Forbidden Creation
by nat-chan
Summary: Based on the movie "The Thirteenth Floor" ..............Darien can't shake the feeling that something isn't right....but he never dreamed what the truth turns out to be....
1. Prologue

Forbidden Creation  
Prologue  
  
Rated: G  
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailormoon tra la la.   
Genre: Romance/Alt Reality  
  
AN's: Anyone who's seen the movie "The Thirteenth Floor" I'm ripping it off beautifully!  
^_^hee. I just saw it yesterday and again today! Loved it! If you haven't seen it  
SEE IT!!!!!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
Darien sat alone on the beach near his home. The sand was an ivory white, soft and soothing  
between his toes. The sea lapped at the shore with a soft sigh, the sun was just beginning to  
set. He drew absently in the sand....abstract patterns.   
  
A heavy hand on his shoulder made him turn sharply and look up. Grandfather Chiba looked  
down at him with kind, twinkling eyes--the eyes, he'd told him when he was younger, of his mother.  
A beautiful woman he'd never had the chance to meet for she'd died when he was just a baby.  
Grandfather's eyes and the rare story his father would tell were all that was left of her.  
  
Grandfather looked at his pensive young grandson--so bright, so much more so than anyone else  
in the family.  
"What's the matter my boy? You're making a daily ritual of this, your Aunt's getting worried."  
  
Darien smiled weakly, "Just thinking..."  
  
"About?" His Grandfather arched an eyebrow curiously--no one seemed to think as much as Darien.  
It wasn't natural.  
  
"I...I just can't shake this feeling....this restless feeling...like something's missing..."  
~Like something's wrong...~  
  
His Grandfather smiled, "You've been near the sea too long. She's a restless woman. She'll  
creep into your heart and steal a little of your soul till you can feel her through and through."  
  
Darien smiled. His Grandfather had spent his life at sea, and the love affair--though faded, had  
never completely subsided.  
  
"Guess so..." He replied--though he had an uneasy feeling this was not so.  
  
He'd come to stay at the Manor over a year ago--after his father had been killed in a car  
accident. They'd been driving together when the car spun out of control and off an embankment.  
At least that's what he'd been told. He had no memories of the accident and only rare flashes  
of anything before it. It was just two weeks before he remembered his father telling stories  
about his mother....  
  
He'd come to stay at the Manor where his Mother's father and sister lived with their families.  
They were his last surviving realitives. The Manor sat on a secluded island, overlooking a   
stunning beach and seemingly endless landscape. It was beautiful and serene--though isolated.  
He was supposed to heal and hopefully regain his memories. He'd done a little of both, and was  
still pursuing his studies from home--via computer enrollement, a common practice in a world  
where distances between homes was wide and difficult to cover.  
  
But Darien, unlike his lively Aunt and contented cousin's--and even his wise, good-humored   
Grandfather--possessed a pensive unease that pulled him out of doors, to think alone for  
hours on end. At first his family had assumed it was the terrible shock of the accident and  
the amnesia--but after a year it seemed it was simply a part of who he was, though a disturbing  
part.  
  
"C'mon, you're Aunt's got dinner made." His Grandfather put an arm about his shoulder's  
kindly and led him back up to the house.  
  
Darien looked back at the water as he walked away. He couldn't explain it, but he felt always  
as though someone were staring back at him from the sea whenever he sat there....  
  
~Maybe I *am* going crazy.~ He though uneasily. But what was all this? No memories, this  
strange, isolated place?   
  
He studied very hard, all the subjects he could get his hands on. He picked it up easily--perhaps  
because he'd studied it before and it was simply a refresher--who could be sure?  
But he did find specific subjects gave him the most incredible deja-vu. Astrology, electrical  
engineering and computer programming, physics....  
  
His astrology Professor online had written him saying he'd never encountered a student so   
naturally talented in the subject--as though he already possessed the knowledge and the very  
sight of the stars had awakened it in him. Darien treasured that note. It was the only shred  
of substance he had to support the odd sensation that haunted him.  
  
But his studies had provided him no answers. Only the sea's soft sigh seemed to whisper of the  
truth....holding some essence he could not grasp...  
  
He shook himself of these thoughts as he walked down the Manor's long Hall to the dining room.  
His Aunt smiled at him as he sat down with his cousins and Grandfather.  
  
"Darien, were you down at the sea again?"  
  
He smiled and nodded.  
  
"You should draw it since you look at it so much." Giggled his young cousin Molly.   
  
Her brother Sammy grinned at this, "Yeah!"  
  
Darien was about to reply when his Aunt cut in, "Now that's enough of that you two! Let's have  
a nice, quiet dinner."  
  
"Actually I have something I wish to discuss with all of you." Grandfather spoke up.  
  
They all looked up expectantly.  
  
"I've a letter from Kenji today. He's coming home this Friday."  
  
They all nodded. Aunt Ilene smiled. Kenji was her husband. He'd been away on a business trip,  
securing matters about the Manor.  
  
"He's bringing someone with him. A girl. His daughter."  
  
"What?!" Ilene exclaimed with shock.  
  
"His first wife. She had a baby and never told him....it was after he left. He had no idea.  
She's about Darien's age and she traced him and wanted to meet him and his family."  
  
They all stared dumbly at Grandfather for long moments. Till finally Darien spoke up.  
"What's her name Grandfather?"  
  
Grandfather looked at him oddly but replied, "Serena. Her name's Serena."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@ 


	2. chapter 1

Forbidden Creation  
Chapter 1  
  
Rated: G  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailormoon, or The Thirteenth Floor....sigh.   
Genre: romance/alt reality  
  
AN's: Hope ya like? ;)  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@  
Friday. 2000 AD.  
  
Darien had been watching the sea all day. His footprints were scattered impatiently across  
the sand. He was waiting. The ship should be here....it was late.  
  
The sun was slowly setting as he obstinately sat staring out as far as his eyes would allow.  
He'd given up pacing but refused his families many pleas to return indoors, to study to read  
anything....  
  
He would not be moved. Something about this had his nerves tingling. He' been in terrible  
anticipation all week.   
~She's coming. She's coming. She's coming.~ His mind seemed to chant into his solitude.  
And he didn't know why. He'd never met her before. Didn't know a thing about her. But here  
he was, waiting for the sea to deliver her. He ran a hand through his dark hair.   
  
Suddenly the sky darkened, black clouds rolling in unnaturally from the horizon, the wind   
picking up until it was howling.   
  
Darien stood with shock. A storm. But so sudden? Could it be real?  
He watched the sea begin to chrun and foam.   
  
His Grandfather ran down the beach to get him, yelling over the now deafening wind,  
"C'mon my boy! Storm's too bad to be outdoors!"  
  
He had to drag Darien away as he stood tensed, ready, as though prepared to take on the sea   
himself.   
  
Inside, soaking wet, Aunt Ilene took over and insisted Darien change and take a hot bath before  
he caught his death.  
  
Darien protested but his Aunt was a terribly determined woman when it came to mothering.  
  
He rushed through the process and ended up slipping and falling on the bathroom floor trying  
to get ready when he heard the sounds of people arriving downstairs.  
  
But by the time he ran down to see them, she was gone. Locked away in her room 'exhausted  
from the long and terrifying trip through the storm'. He wasn't to disturb her.  
  
He hugged his Uncle and then trudged off to his room with sunken shoulders.  
  
Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would meet her.  
  
And he was up at the crack of dawn the next morning waiting for her at breakfast. Aunt  
Ilene, Molly, Sammy and Grandfather came down to find bacon and eggs already made.  
  
"Why Darien! What prompted this?" Aunt Ilene exclaimed laughing.  
  
"Couldn't sleep." He replied brokenly, straining to see Kenji and Serena whenever they came  
down.  
  
And then they did.  
  
Kenji was an average, handsome man with glasses and brown hair and eyes. His estranged daughter  
was none of these things. Instead an unbelievably pale girl walked in, barely 5 foot 4 with  
wide blue eyes set against her ivory skin and pale lips that betrayed a tendency to tremble.  
She was lithe and graceful without realizing, and beautiful as no one else he could recall   
seeing or meeting in his life.  
  
All of this was enough to startle him, but when her eyes met his that first moment he nearly   
dropped to his knees. There was something....something...his dazed mind choked out.  
She gazed at him with such a wide eyed shock and innocence and beauty and disbelief.  
  
He could read it all in her eyes....everything. So she quickly looked away.  
  
"Serena, you met Grandfather Chiba and Ilene last night. These are my two children Molly  
and Sammy."  
  
The said children greeted her with delightful grins and she smiled at them warmly,  
"Hello." She said and the sound of her voice was so instantly familiar to him that he caught  
his breath.  
  
What did all this mean?  
  
"And this is my nephew Darien. He's Ilene's sister's son."  
  
"Yes, I remember you telling me." She said softly, then her eyes met his again and time  
seemed to silence and still everything in the world.  
  
"It's good to meet you." She said with a faint trace of pain in her voice.  
  
"Good to meet you too." He said and smiled gently at her, offering his hand.  
  
She seemed to start a bit at this but carefully offered her own hand. He squeezed it cautiously  
and shook it. The texture of her skin....it reminded him of something....  
  
Serena meanwhile stared out of her blue eyes at him in the throes of stark agony. She took  
him in, tall, thin, dark hair, navy blue eyes....handsome....like always...but somehow more  
real....in this tangible place....  
~Oh Gods I really am being punished.~  
  
She forced a smile to her face, "I see you made breakfast..."  
  
"Oh, uh, yeah....couldn't sleep." He offered awkwardly.  
  
She nodded and turned her eyes away, to the table, anywhere but him. She already knew he'd been  
anticipating her arrival, pacing the beach, barely sleeping.....but she had to avoid him. It was  
all she could do.  
  
They sat down and ate quietly till Darien, whose eyes had not left her yet, asked,   
"What are we doing today? I could show Sere--"  
  
"Actually my boy, Serena's spending the day with Kenji and I need your help with the boat after  
that storm last night." Grandfather Chiba cut in.  
  
He was looking piercingly at Darien and the latter frowned in frustration and ate the rest of  
his breakfast in silence. Serena never dared a glance his way.  
  
And then she was gone once again. Whisked off by Uncle Kenji.  
  
Darien worked silently on the boat. Scrubbing the scratched wood with a dark expression as  
Grandfather Chiba worked calmly beside him. Finally he spoke up.  
  
"Darien, she came to catch up with her father and meet her family. Make sure you remember that.  
You'll have time with her later."  
  
Darien didn't reply and Grandfather chuckled a bit, "You're quite taken with her already,  
aren't you?"  
  
Darien paused a moment but didn't look up, then he returned to scrubbing with vehenem.  
  
"You can chat with her tonight." Grandfather said with amusement.  
  
But this proved to be untrue. For upon returning home, Darien found she was in the library  
with Molly and Sammy and when he moved to join them his Aunt stopped him,  
"Just let her be with them a while would you?" She asked softly, her kindly hand on his   
shoulder.  
  
He dropped his shoulder's in defeat.  
  
"She seems to be getting on well with them." Aunt Ilene said softly, "I'm glad."  
  
Darien smiled at his kind Aunt. This must all be hard on her, but she was only concerned   
about how Serena was doing.  
  
He took his Aunt to the kitchen and made her some tea, chatting with her a while before she  
put the kids to bed.   
  
Serena was gone too. Locked away in her room again.  
  
And so for the next three days she had a turn with everyone. Kenji spent a day with her, Aunt  
Ilene, Grandfather Chiba, and she played constantly with Molly and Sammy.  
  
He never had more than a moment's time with her before she ran off, avoiding him with obvious  
pains.  
  
She was leaving soon and he hadn't even spoken to her! This strange, ethereal girl that  
reminded him of something he could not place. That pulled at the parts of his heart always  
sensitive to how strange the world felt against them.  
  
He waited this night till he found her leading Molly and Sammy to bed and laid a hand on her   
shoulder making her jump.  
  
"Serena..."  
  
"Y-yes?" Her voice stuttered and she met his gaze only briefly before looking down.  
  
"Will you come chat with me a bit before bed? I haven't had any chance to spend time with you  
yet."  
  
"I-I really am tired. How about tomorrow morning? Besides, I promised Molly and Sammy  
I'd read to them before bed."  
  
She saw the sorrow cross his features and swallowed. He knew she wouldn't speak with him   
tomorrow. He knew she was avoiding him. She knew it hurt him. But his hurt, however  
significant could not match the pain she carried. The pain that made his presence unbearable.  
  
~Only two more days....I only have to make it two more days...~  
  
"I--" He began, but then sunk his shoulders in defeat, "Alright then. Tomorrow..."  
  
And he walked away slowly.  
  
She breathed a small sigh of relief and went to read to Molly and Sammy before bed.  
When she finished, she crept carefully back to her dark room, closing the door and locking it  
behind her before turning and flicking the light on.  
  
Darien sat on her bed. She gave a startled gasp as he stood.  
  
"I want to know why you've been avoiding me?" He asked bluntly.  
  
She stared incredulously at him and her legs began to tremble with her lips.  
  
He started towards her, "What is it? Have I done something? I only want to talk with you!"  
  
"I-I--" She stammered, tears starting at the corners of her eyes, but she bit them back  
with resolve. She would face this with all her strength.   
  
"I'm sorry." She said sincerely, "You....make me a little nervous, that's all. I-I've never  
met anyone like you."  
  
He seemed to consider this a moment and for a terrible moment she wondered if perhaps, she really  
couldn't lie to him.....but then he shrugged it off and smiled a bit. He offered his hand.  
  
"Come walk with me?"  
  
She froze for one delerious moment, his hand outstretched to her, his eyes imploring gently.  
Then she assented, "Alright."  
  
And their hands stayed clasped all the way to the beach, where they sat in the soft, soft sand  
and talked about the stars and the moon.   
  
Serena knew as much--if not more--about astrology as he did. Though she seemed always to be  
checking what she said, he was still amazed at how freely she spoke of the sky.  
  
They talked about studying and learning late into the night till Serena finally tried to free  
her hand and moved to get up, "It's late..." She said softly.  
  
He pulled her closer, "Just a few more minutes?"  
  
He watched her face cloud with some unknown emotion for a moment but then she forced it back  
and smiled, "Alright."  
  
"It's beautiful down here isn't it?" She said after a moment's silence.  
  
He nodded, "Something about watching the sea from here....it gets to me. Grandfather  
says it's the soul of the sea creeping into my heart...but that's Sailor talk. It's different  
to me. The way it sounds hitting the shore...like a sigh....and just the feeling I get watching  
it...sometimes I'd swear someone was staring back at me....."  
  
She stiffened beside him as he spoke. He turned, "Ever feel that way?"  
  
She nodded slowly, refusing to meet his gaze.  
~How...?? How could he know...??~  
  
He pulled her to her feet then, hands on her shoulders and she thought she might simply fall at   
his feet. How could his skin, his touch, his breath all feel so real? Her body refused to  
obey her this once and she stood there, till she dared to look up into his face. To find  
those dark eyes searching her.....there was such a half-sorrow, half confusion in them that   
finally she could bear it no longer. She broke her one promise to herself and reached her hands  
to touch his arms as they now hung loosely at his sides.  
  
"I...I feel as though I've known you all my life." She confessed.  
  
His eyes widened, "I have that feeling myself....as though I've met you before....but we've  
never met....what do you suppose it means?"  
  
She stared numbly at him....refusing to lie....unable to answer...finally she turned the question  
on him, "What do you think it means?"  
  
He looked intently at her, "I've had this feeling....as long as I can remember--which isn't  
much but still....I feel this...unease....as though something's missing or wrong or...everything  
here just feels so...surreal. I thought maybe it was my amnesia....but it's so base in me  
I can't believe that's the case. I feel...." He trailed off.  
  
"Incomplete?" She supplied softly, meeting his eyes with hers.  
  
He nodded, then he pulled her closer, "But you....you seem so familiar....so....real."  
He tilted her chin back and looked down at her face, "I feel like I've found something  
I've been searching for my whole life."  
  
And now tears rolled down her cheeks unchecked.  
  
"What is it?" He asked.  
  
She shook her head, "I've just been....so lonely all my life....to hear you say that is...."  
  
He had his arms around her now, his breath so close it was warm on her cheek. She tore herself  
away fearfully, "Oh I can't! I can't!" She cried and ran off towards the Manor, leaving  
him staring after her in the moonlight.  
  
She was in her room, door locked when he came home. He crept back to his own room and fell  
into a deep sleep in spite of himself....he hadn't slept enough all week.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~@  
Thursday. 2000 AD.  
  
When he came down the next morning he found everyone at breakfast but her.   
  
"Where's Serena?" He asked sitting down to eat, expecting to hear that she wasn't up yet.  
  
"Oh she was up hours ago boy! She headed off into the woods to look round." Grampa smiled and  
looked up from his breakfast to continue, "She--"  
  
But Darien was gone. The family looked at his empty chair with puzzlement.  
  
Darien tore off into the woods to find her....running, running without stopping, without  
seeing.  
  
She seemed to sense his chasing for when he spotted her she was running too. Her beautiful  
gold hair trailing after her, slender body arched gracefully as she moved.  
  
He ran till his legs burned and caught her up--how did she run so fast? Throwing his arms  
about her waist and spinning her round to face him....thick green trees all around....sun  
streaming through....all of it so beautiful she caught her breath.  
  
"Wh-why..." he gasped, "Why are you...running?"  
  
"Oh please," She begged, in tears once again, "Please just leave me alone. I'll be gone  
soon."  
  
"I know you will. But...what is it? Why do you keep running from me? I thought you said  
that...that we..."  
  
She turned to look at him then, her eyes racked with sorrow. It cut into him till he pulled   
her into his arms, "Oh God don't look at me like that...."  
  
"Like what?" She asked curiously, pulling back to look at him again.  
  
"Like all the world's sorrow rests in your heart alone."  
  
She looked startled at this.  
  
"Tell me the truth." He said, "Why are you here? What does all this mean?"  
  
Her eyes took on that agony again, "I-I'm being punished." She said softly.  
  
"Why?" He asked, not understanding but knowing she spoke the truth at last. Why was coming  
here punishment? What had she done wrong? Was her mother angry that she'd looked up her father?  
Somehow that didn't seem right. As though none of that were true in the first place.  
  
But she broke into tears at this and he held her close as she cried,  
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She sobbed over and over.  
  
"Sorry for what? Serena!" Finally he gave up and sinking them both to their knees he brushed  
her hair back over her shoulder, away from where it clung to her tears.  
  
"Whatever it is I forgive you...."  
  
She stopped short and looked at him then, her piercing gaze alive with intelligence and  
realization. He could see himself in those eyes.  
  
And he realized then the restless feeling that haunted him only enhanced this enchanted   
moment. This sense of finding--if only briefly and unclearly--something long sought.  
He leaned down and kissed her....and she moved as if to resist but instead melted slowly into  
his arms and he could feel her love....feel it warm as it radiated from her skin to his.  
  
"I love you too..." He murmured into her mouth and he felt her body jolt at his words, as though  
shocked.  
  
She was murmuring something too. As her hands slid up his back, tangled in his hair, touched  
his face....he had to strain to hear it so softly spoken,  
"So real....so real..."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~~@ 


	3. chapter 2

Forbidden Creation  
Chapter 2  
  
Rated: G  
Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue. ^_^  
Genre: Romance/Alt.Reality  
  
AN's: Hope ya like.....have you figured it out yet? ^_~  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@  
  
It was a long, long time before Serena broke that kiss. However ridiculous it was to wrap  
oneself in a fantasy she did it anyway, begged whatever true creator there was to let it last  
forever....stretch it to eternity....bliss.  
  
But wrapped breathless in his arms in this paradise of trees was almost as lovely. He was  
looking at her with changed eyes.   
  
"You...you...I don't understand but..." He managed brokenly.  
  
"Shhh." She soothed, stroking his face gently and leaning up to kiss him again.  
  
"Mmmmmm..." He murmured as his eyes drifted closed.  
  
When she pulled away he followed, eyes still closed, leaning close to begin again.  
  
"How do you feel?" She asked softly.  
  
"Like nothing else is real but you..." He whispered, catching her about the shoulders and waist  
and pulling her into another kiss before she could reply.  
  
~How does he know?~ Her mind kept crying.  
  
She pulled away this time and pushed him back, "You know I'm leaving tonight."  
  
His eyes grew pained and she winced, "Must you?"  
  
She nodded as he reached for her again, gripping her arms, "But you'll come back right?"  
  
She shook her head no and his eyes widened with horror, "You're not coming back?"  
  
"I can never come back." She said sadly.  
  
"Then I'll go with you! Wherever you go!"  
  
She watched him with agony biting her heart. The process he was going through was usually  
beautiful and easy. Now, because of her, it was painful and terrible. But then, soul bonding  
should be impossible here....  
  
"You can't. You can't come with me. This is goodbye. Oh, now don't you see why I avoided  
you?"  
  
"You knew? You knew all along?" He asked brokenly, still gripping her arms.  
  
"Yes." She managed, tears starting again.  
  
He pulled her fiercely into his arms, "I won't let you go. I won't let you leave me. I love  
you. You're everything to me."  
  
"You can't mean that." She said softly.  
  
"I mean it more than anything else I've ever done." He bit out harsly.  
  
She cried and cried into his chest.   
  
"Tell me the truth!" He demanded, "Tell me the truth and tell me why you have to leave...  
without me?"  
  
"I can't." She said brokenly, "I can't tell you the truth and I can't ever come back."  
  
"No!" He cried, his voice full of pain.  
  
~How can he feel so much pain?~  
  
"I won't let you go! I swear!" He clutched her tightly, as if physically keeping her  
there would work.  
  
She wrapped her arms about his neck and struggled to meet his face,  
"I'm sorry love." She said with utter sincerity, "I'm sorry..."  
  
She leaned up and kissed him deeply, till she knew he was lost and then she gingerly reached  
up and touched his head as she said, so softly he never knew, "Sleep."  
  
And he collapsed limp in her arms as tears fell from her cheeks. She gathered him  
into her arms with unnatural ease and touched the closest tree before they both disappeared  
in a burst of light.  
  
She laid him gently on his bed and then took to writing a letter to him, that she left with  
Grandfather to give to him. Then she tucked something bright under his pillow, kissed  
him softly and left, choking back a sob of agony.  
  
When Darien awoke he jumped up, looking wildly around.   
~Why am I in my room? What's happened?~ And then with horror ~Where's Serena?~  
  
He flew down the stairs and crashed into his Grandfather, "Where is she? What day is it? What's  
happened?"  
  
"Whoa-a, my boy. You've been out cold all day, collapsed yesterday in the woods. Serena got you  
home. It's Friday."  
  
"Where is she? Where's Serena?"  
  
"She's gone. Left last night. She was sorry you didn't get to say goodbye, but she left this  
for you." He offered the letter which Darien numbly took before turning slowly and going  
back to his room.  
  
He sat on his bed reading it with disbelief.  
  
"Darien,  
I'm sorry I had to leave you sleeping. I had to go. I couldn't stay. I never wanted  
to hurt you. I was never meant to meet you. But now that I have we will be connected  
forever. I know you know that. I can never tell you the complete truth, only pieces. The   
pieces I want to give you are these: I love you. I will always be watching over you. And....I   
put a star under your pillow....since we both love the sky.  
Goodbye  
Serena"  
  
Darien read it over and over. ~I was never meant to meet you.....I can never tell you the  
complete truth.....what did that mean?~  
  
Finally he got up slowly and reached under his pillow. What he pulled out shocked him  
through. In his hands, hovering over his skin, was a pulsing light, tiny, like the stars  
in the sky.  
  
She really had given him a star. She was magic. How? Who was she? What was the truth?  
Tears rolled down his cheeks as he stared into the tiny white light and somehow, he knew,  
somewhere, she was crying too.  
  
He stayed in his room all day, staring at the star, trying to figure it out. When night fell  
he carried the star down to the beach, sitting in the ivory sand, listening to the tide  
lap at the shore.   
  
But tonight the sea provided no peace, it only mocked him, whispering of the truth but never  
telling. He grew angry till he jumped up, flinging the star into the air.  
  
"Never again?!" He cried, "I can't live with that! Where are you?! What is the truth?!"  
  
And for the first time, he ran into the sea, deeper and deeper as though the touch of it  
would reveal everything to him.   
  
"Answer me?!" He cried angrily, desperately.  
  
And on the otherside of the sea, Serena sat at her desk, sobbing into her arms as a wide  
screen flickered in front of her.  
  
"So real....so real but it can't be." She murmured.  
  
Behind her, in the doorway, her Grandfather watched her--though she never knew. He smiled  
a little sadly and then left her.  
  
Serena meanwhile, cried until suddenly she heard no more sound from the computer. She looked   
up in sudden horror. Darien was drowning!   
  
"Oh Gods no!" She cried and threw herself into the pod next to her, hastily lining up her  
arms and legs and calling out, "Download User Serena NOW!"  
  
And in a rush of silver liquid that simply suspended itself in the air, her body was encompassed.  
And then she was in the sea, diving down to find him as he sunk to the bottom, her letter   
clutched in one of his hands.  
  
She grabbed him about the waist and shook him to see if he was conscious and for one, strange  
moment his eyes flickered open and met hers, in the deep, silent water and they stared at   
one another.  
  
Then she was pulling him up to the surface and dragging him to the shore where she laid him  
back as he choked.  
  
"I won't let you die!" She cried angrily at him, "Never, do you understand?"  
  
His eyes grew foggy and he passed out then, watching her beautiful face fade away.  
  
When he awoke his Grandfather sat at his bedside, the smell of chicken soup engulfing the room  
as Aunt Ilene--no doubt busy at work downstairs--worked away.  
  
Darien tried to sit up but his Grandfather pushed him back, "Easy, easy there. You nearly  
drowned! Rest."  
  
"Grandfather? What? I thought I saw Serena...that she saved me....but she's gone right?"  
  
Grandfather frowned, "She'd downstairs boy, getting you some soup."  
  
"What?"  
  
Grandfather shook his head, "You must've swallowed a lot more sea water then I thought."  
He left as Serena appeared in the door way with soup. She closed the door gently behind  
her and walked over.  
  
He tried to get up but she stopped him this time, "No, rest."  
  
"How did you--? What....what's going on?" She touched his lips gently to quiet him, handing   
him the steaming soup.  
  
"Your family thinks I never left. And yes, I saved you from drowning."  
  
He stared at her, "How?"  
  
She sighed sorrowfully, "I told you I'd be watching over you. I won't ever let anything  
happen to you. But I can't--I musn't see you like this."  
  
"I don't understand. Serena, tell me the truth."  
  
"I can't."  
  
"And you're going to leave again?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No! You owe me the truth!"  
  
She turned away sadly and moved towards the door, but he lept out of bed with a strength  
he didn't know he possessed and bounded over, pinning her against it.  
  
"No!" He said fiercly, his voice low, his eyes desperate, "I want the truth. That star...that  
star was...I don't know...and in the woods, you put me to sleep...how? And the sea, you watch  
me from it don't you? What does it all mean?"  
  
She tried to shake free, tears squeezing out her eyes, "No..no..no.."  
  
"Tell me!" He shook her violently, "Please!"  
  
She looked up into his eyes at 'please' and froze. She must've recognized something staring  
out of them for in the next instant she said, "Alright."  
  
He stopped and simply held her still, waiting.  
  
She looked up tearfully at him, "I-I told you I was sent here to be punished right? But I never  
told you why..." Her voice was low and fearful.  
  
He nodded, "What did you do?"  
  
"I broke a rule....I created something forbidden...."  
  
He watched her face and felt his gut tighten fearfully....a feeling of impending horror gripping  
him, "What?" He asked softly.  
  
She met his eyes with sorrow, and regret and pain all at once, "You." She whispered.  
  
He stared blankly at her a long moment, "You....created me?"  
  
She nodded, tears running down her cheeks, "Yes." She said in a strangled voice.  
  
"H-How?"  
  
She gently took his hands from her shoulders and grasped them, "You-you said you had a restless  
feeling all the time, like something was wrong? That's because you live in a world that  
my Grandfather and I built. It's a computer simulation set to act as the year 2000 on earth."  
  
He paled, "It's all a computer simulation? None of it's real?"  
  
She nodded again, "It's really the year 3000. My Grandfather is a neuro-electronics genius. He  
created the means to make simple, artificial intelligence within the simulations."  
  
"How?"  
  
"By scanning something small. A fingertip, a breath, a piece of hair and scrambling the DNA   
to create a simple, functional character. Grandfather Chiba is modeled very much after my  
Grandfather. He also made Kenji and Sammy. I made Molly and Aunt Ilene."  
  
"And me?"  
  
"Yes. Usually only girls make girls and boys make boys. You're in exception. But you're   
completely different anyway. You're more conscious then any other character before you.  
You-you're alive."  
  
"Why...why did you make me?"  
  
She gripped his hands tighter, "In the year 3000 everything is peaceful and beautiful. And  
everyone spends their life with their soulmate. We've perfected the means to find them and  
created harmony with it. Some soulmates are even found at birth and spend their entire lives  
together. Everyone, everyone has a soulmate."  
  
Her eyes were wide and beautiful staring into his, "Everyone but me."  
  
He frowned, "Why not you?"  
  
She sighed, "No one really knows, but, my mother....she's from the Moon...half Goddess. The   
Moon's people are never supposed to leave their planet but she did. She fell in love with my  
father on earth and had me. They were both banished back to the moon and I was left on earth.  
Raised by my Grandfather. Some people think it's because of that."  
  
He watched her quietly, waiting for her to continue.  
  
"I was so lonely. Oh you don't know! I was all alone! My Grandfather and I built this and  
many other's like it. They're very common in homes now. He made only one rule. I wasn't  
ever allowed to scan my entire body in to create a character. It was too much life, too much  
soul."  
  
Darien felt her trembling and instinctively pulled her closer, numbly, still in shock himself.  
  
"He made this for me. The trees in the forest are from my favorite storybook, the Manor too.  
And when you said the sea sounded like a sigh, it's true. It's my sigh. He took the sound  
and made the sea from it. And the sand...it's the texture of my skin."  
  
He watched her incredulously. His entire world...it was her.....  
  
She continued on feverishly, "Anyway, about a year ago....I was so lonely I just, I didn't want  
to live.....I was...desperate. So I scanned my entire body in and begged the computer to  
make my soulmate. It was very foolish...but....it made you..."  
  
He stared at her, stunned.  
  
"You're good at astrology and computer engineering and all that stuff because *I* am. You have   
a lot of me in you. But there's so much more. You're so....intelligent....and sensitive to  
the environment around you. It's like you always knew.....and you do truly live. Oh, I'm so  
sorry..."  
  
He pulled her close, "Don't be sorry....don't be..."  
  
"I....I love you...."  
  
He pulled away sorrowfully, "How can that be real?"  
  
"Because you're my soulmate."  
  
"Serena....I have no soul."  
  
"That's not true....it's not."  
  
He watched her sadly as she spoke in earnest to him.  
  
"Show me." He said softly.  
  
"Show you?"  
  
"What it really looks like..."  
  
Her eyes widened but she nodded, stepping away from him, touching the wall, "Reveal the grid."  
She said softly and suddenly everything disappeared except the two of them. Blackness  
and faint white lines were all that remained.  
  
Darien fell to his knees. Then he looked, pale and aghast at Serena, "I suppose you can  
turn me off too?"  
  
"No, no that's just it....you possess something no one else in your world does. Look."  
  
She turned to the wall again, "Mirror." She commanded.  
  
A mirror pierced the darkness and she pulled him up to stand in front of it.  
  
"Look..." She said and softly ran her hand over his face. His body disappeared but a blinding,  
bluish glow remained in the outline of his body. He stared at it in the mirror.  
  
"You have a soul." She whispered, tears starting again. Then she turned and shouted desperately  
"Turn it all back on! Please!"  
  
And they were back but this time on the beach, at night and she threw herself into his arms.   
He clutched her tightly, tears running down his own cheeks, trembling.  
  
"What's real?" He whispered brokenly.  
  
"You. You are real. And our love. The feeling you have, the longing to keep me close, that  
day in the woods, that was a soul bond. It was never supposed to happen between us. But it   
did. It means you and I and what we have is real."  
  
He was crying now, into her soft shoulder, "I could always feel it. And then when I met you.."  
  
"Shhh..." She soothed, "When my Grandfather found out what I had done he forced me to enter  
the system and spend a week at the Manor...to meet you..."  
  
"And you fell in love with me?"  
  
"Yes...but I loved you before that....you were always a part of me...."  
  
They clung tight to one another a long time and then pulled back, staring into one another's  
eyes. He leaned down and kissed her gently, "What now?"  
  
"I...I don't know..." She whispered, "But I have to go....I can't stay..."  
  
"But you'll come back this time? Now that I know?"   
  
She nodded and he seemed content with this.   
  
"I have to go.." She said softly again and he could feel her start to fade in his arms and  
kissed her till she was gone all together...vanished from sight.  
  
And back in her room, the silver liquid rushed up and away as fast as it had come, leaving  
her gasping a bit. She stepped off and walked to the desk....the rippling screen showed  
the view of the beach from the sea and Darien stood, looking back at her a moment before  
blowing her a kiss.  
  
She laughed delightedly and watched till he'd walked back to the Manor before turning to see the  
envelope sitting beside her with her name penned in her Grandfather's careful writing.  
  
She started to open it when there was a knock at the door. Tucking it in her pocket she  
headed down the stairs and peeped out. Her breath caught as she looked to see the Detectives  
standing outside. With a wave of her hand over the control panel in the wall she put the   
entire system into it's dormant state and encrypted it. Now only she and her Grandfather  
could reactivate it. She scanned the premises for her Grandfather but to her surprise he  
was gone completely.  
  
Then she opened the door, "Hello....may I help you?"  
  
"Are you Serena Tsukino?"  
  
She winced at the use of her mother's moon name.  
  
"That's my legal title yes."  
  
One of the other detectives leaned casually in the door frame, "Your Grandfather home?"  
  
She smiled insincerely, "No, I'm sorry, he's out at the moment. Would you mind telling me  
what this is all about?"  
  
"We've reason to believe that he used his sensorium illegally."  
  
"What?" She asked incredulously, how could they possibly know?  
  
Another Detective spoke up, "A soul bond formed that has no record, no explanation. We've  
traced it to here. We think he's created artificial intelligence with a soul. Which is  
strictly illegal."  
  
They were all looking accusingly at her. It was well known that a soulmate had never been  
found for her--a half-alien girl forged of an illegal alliance between planets, disrupting  
harmony where ever she went. That was why she rarely traveled--and neither did her Grandfather.  
~Where is he?~ She thought desperately.  
  
"We're investigating right now, but if we find any reason to believe this is so we will shut  
your system down, no questions asked."  
  
Serena's eyes widened with horror--and anger--who were these men to hold her Grandfather  
to the same rules, he invented the sensorium! She glared at them and said nothing.  
  
"When he gets in, get him to contact us immediately." One the Detectives gave her a card and  
tipped his hat before they all left.  
  
She shut the door breathing hard. Then she sat down on the stairs and pulled out the letter  
he'd left her. It was brief and left her rather confused.  
  
"Serena,  
There is a way.  
Use the Biotic Conductors and channel the energy through your body.  
  
Bayside Hospital  
2299 Rain Road  
Room 899b  
Love Grandfather"  
  
The letter said nothing of where he was or why. She read it over and over. It made no sense.  
There was a way? A way to what? What was at this hospital?  
  
She thought of the Detectives....shutting down the system....it would kill Darien...  
She shuddered. ~Never...~  
  
There was only one thing to do. Take the Biotic Conductor and go to the hospital.  
She climbed up the stairs to her room and began packing up the equipment. She clasped a wrist  
band about her arm with a row of lights on it (AN: anyone see the Ewok movies? The family  
had wrist bands with lights showing their status remember? It's like those) showing the  
status of the system.   
  
As long as the computer was in it's dormant state Darien shouldn't be conscious and the   
authorities wouldn't detect his soul in the computer.   
In other words, he was safe until she could figure out what to do.  
  
She sighed, a little relieved and headed for door when her screen caught her eye.  
It held the same rippling image of the beach from the ocean....but standing on the beach,  
waving his arms frantically....was Darien....  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
*  
* 


	4. chapter 3

Forbidden Creation  
Chapter 3  
  
Rated: G  
Disclaimer: Do I own Sailormoon? In the immortal words of Destiny's Child "No no no no no.."  
Genre: Romance/Alt. Reality  
  
AN's: Hope you're enjoying? ;p  
p.s. See "The Thirteenth Floor"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@  
Saturday, 3000 AD.  
  
Serena froze. How was it possible? Darien should be unconscious! She dropped everything  
on the floor and stared at the screen disbelieving. Then she laid a hand on the pad,  
"User Serena override for entrance..." She commanded and threw herself into the pod again.  
  
This was dangerous, entering the system when it was dormant, the contact would probably confirm  
to the authorities that he existed, but so would leaving him that way....  
  
"Let me walk out of the sea..." She said softly as the silver water started to shoot down.  
  
Darien, standing on the shore, stopped short as Serena walked easily from the water, like some  
kind of sea goddess.  
  
She hurried to him, "Darien!"  
  
"Serena! Everything's gone silent and dim and everyone's collapsed, what's happened?"  
  
"The authorities are suspicious! They're threatening to shut down the system! I put the  
computer into dormancy! You should be unconscious too! I don't know how you're still awake!"  
  
His eyes were wide, "What happens if they shut down the system?"  
  
She didn't answer but the sudden horrific terror in her eyes confessed the truth,  
"I won't let it happen, I swear to you." She said hoarsely.  
  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
"My Grandfather's disappeared, but he left me a note....I think it's about what I should do.  
It has instructions and an address. I'm going to follow them."  
  
"What about me? What should I do?" He asked.  
  
"I'll put you to sleep." She said softly.  
  
He started....knowing he may never wake up....they both realized this could be it.  
  
He pulled her close, catching her about the waist, "I want you to know...."  
  
"I know, I know." She said brokenly, "I love you too. Always. I swear, if they're going to  
shut it down I'll get in and die with you. I swear!"  
  
"No, no you musn't. Promise me you'll live."  
  
"I can't live without you!"  
  
They clutched one another tightly and he kissed her, slipping down to the sand as he held her,  
and then she pulled away and touched his face, "Sleep." She said softly and he watched her  
beautiful face fade away again.  
  
She left him laying in the sand, touched his face gently and then ran back into the sea without  
looking back. Time was running out.  
  
She pulled out of the system and grabbed her things. Her wrist band beeped. The authorities  
knew and they would try and shut everything down now. The encryption would take a long time  
to break....but the race had begun. She ran out the door and headed for the hospital.  
  
She ran through the sunny streets, passing couples everywhere who stared oddly at her.  
  
~I'll save you....I'll save you...~ She thought desperately, ~I can't live without you.~  
But where was Grandfather? She could use their telepathic link....something no one really  
knew about....but they would know if she used it. It was a lunar power and she was forbidden   
to use it. It worked on Grandfather because they shared the same blood. She decided to hold off  
till the last minute before doing that. No need having authorities chasing her AND trying  
to hack into the system too!  
  
She found the hospital and ran in. Her wrist light had dropped by half. There was no time!  
When the lights went out competely, all was lost!  
  
She raced through the halls and hurriedly talked to the desk before finding the room number.  
~899b.~  
  
The front desk nurse meanwhile, called the floor Doctor. The patient the young girl had arranged  
to see had never had a visitor since he'd arrived....at birth.  
  
Serena pushed the door open and walked in to see the bottom half of a bed and a window.  
Coming around to see who lay in it she stopped short and clapped a hand over her mouth to  
keep from screaming. She dropped to her knees.   
  
It was Darien.  
  
At least it looked just like him. What did it all mean?  
She dropped her equipment on the chair nearby and walked over, taking his hand gently,   
disbelieving that it was real.  
  
The Doctor walked in at this moment and scared the life out of her,  
"May I ask why you're here?" His voice cut in from behind.  
  
She jumped out of her skin.  
  
He smiled, "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. It's just, this patient has never had any   
visitors."  
  
"How long has he been here?" She asked softly.  
  
"Since his birth." The Doctor replied, "He was born this way, comatose. He has absolutely  
no neurological activity in his brain whatsoever. He is a body...without a mind..."  
  
"Without a soul..." She said softly.  
  
He put a hand on her shoulder, "Who told you about him?"  
  
"My Grandfather." She replied, then asked, "Why did you keep him...alive?"  
  
The Doctor shrugged, "Because we could."  
  
She stared dumbly at him at this. Destiny was doing a crazy dance in her head.   
  
He watched her a moment before saying, "Is there anything you need or can I leave you?"  
  
She nodded, "No no I'm fine. Thank you for...answering my questions..."  
  
"No trouble at all Miss." He smiled and then left her.  
  
She quickly shut the door and propped a chair against the handle. Then she sat down beside him  
and focused her mind.  
  
~Grandfather...~  
  
~Yes?~ The reply came so fast and so steadily that she jumped.  
  
~What's going on? How is Darien here? What does this mean?~  
  
She could feel him chuckle.  
~My dear girl. I've made it my life's work to find your soulmate. I found this poor chap  
in my searching, a body without a soul. When you scanned yourself in *I* modelled the body  
not you, and I modelled it after him. I've been working on that biotic conductor for some time  
now, hoping to find a way to transfer him to this body....I didn't mean for it all to come up  
so suddenly....but the Authorities know now and they're trying to shut it down.~  
  
~So you sent me in to see if a soul bond would really form? To see if he had a soul?~  
  
~Yes.~  
  
~Why didn't you tell me?!~ She asked angrily.  
  
~I couldn't interfere. You had to do it on your own.~  
  
A beeping from her wrist interupted her.  
  
~Hurry girl. We haven't much time. Hook up the conductor...~  
  
She did and he spoke again, ~We'll have to unlock the system together but we'll only have  
a matter of seconds for you to awaken him and pull him through. He has to pass through the   
conductor and your body before entering his own for it to work.~  
  
~I understand.~ She replied tensely.  
  
~Good, then let's do it.~  
  
They used their combined minds to unlock the system and Serena hurried to the beach to wake  
Darien...only to encounter a strange sight. He was already awake and fighting off the   
collapsing system by himself, flinging energy and whatever else he could conjure. It was  
amazing. He'd learned to master his environment. But the system was collapsing anyway  
and he was rapidly running out of time.  
  
"Darien!" She cried, hovering over him in a vague outline.  
  
"Serena?!" He cried over the din and roar of the computer being attacked.  
  
"Take my hand! I'll tell you what you must do!"  
  
He reached for her hand but she was high. He jumped and missed, jumped again. The ground  
was dissolving beneath him.   
  
"You can do it!" She cried desperately.  
  
He focused and jumped then, just as the ground vanished beneath him, jumping higher and   
higher till he caught her hand.  
  
"I'm going to pull you out, you have to pass through the conductor, then me into--"  
  
She was cut off as the system died with a last deafening roar. Without hesitating she  
forced him out and into the conductor.  
  
Back in the hospital room, she looked to see his familiar blue energy struggling in the   
conductor. She reached one hand and took the limp one that lay on the hospital bed and with   
the other touched the conductor, letting the inhuman voltage shock her. Her head flew back  
and she let out a cry of anguish.  
  
There was a rattling at the hospital door as Nurses and Doctors tried to get in.  
  
Then the blue energy suddenly flew up her arm and into her body and for one long, strange  
moment they were both there....sharing that same space....complete....feeling the one thing  
soulmates struggle their whole lives to be through touch and talk.....one.  
  
Then, with reluctance she realized smiling, he was traveling down her other arm and into the   
limp body that looked identical to his simulated one. And everything fell deadly silent.  
Serena fell to her knees, semi-conscious. The body on the bed remained unchanged.   
  
Finally she pulled herself up, blind to the hollaring of the people outside the door, she sat  
quietly on the bed and leaned over the still dormant body.  
  
"Darien?"  
  
She leaned down till her lips brushed his, "Darien can you hear me?"  
  
The moniter still beeped steadily, unchanging. Her heart grabbed.  
She kissed him tenderly, "My love..."  
  
And then he opened his eyes, groggily at first but gradually wider. She watched his muscles  
form and tighten for the first time, he winced painfully as his simulated body transferred   
itself to this one that had never moved.  
  
Then he sat up slowly, arms tangling with hers, eyes never leaving her beautiful face.  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
"In a hospital...in the future....in your own body...alive....with me." She finished in a   
whisper.  
  
He stared incredulously at her and then down at his body, touching his face and hair and  
chest. Everything *felt* the same.  
  
"I'm....real?" He asked, afraid....  
  
She nodded, tears springing to her joyful eyes.  
  
He tilted her chin up till their noses touched, "You'll never be alone again love."  
  
She smiled and let him kiss her then. The Doctors burst in and stopped, staring dumbly  
at them. In the chair sat a fizzled, smoking, burnt up machine of some kind. The girl  
sitting on the bed had singed clothes and hair, as though she'd been shocked terribly,   
and the man who'd spent his life in a coma was sitting up holding her with what looked like  
strong, tanned arms!  
  
The authorities burst in behind them, having followed the traces of telepathy.  
  
Serena broke the kiss and turned to face them. Then she threw back her head and laughed,  
the joyful free laugh of someone completed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
* 


	5. Epilogue

Forbidden Creation  
Epilogue  
  
Rated: G  
Disclaimer: Though I consider Sailormoon my own personal muse, I did not alas, create her.  
Please don't sue me, for I just blew my tax return on a haircut and some cool  
new clothes! ^_^hee  
Genre: Romance/Alt. Reality  
AN's: Phew! Finished it all in one go! Do you believe it? I have the worst crick in my  
neck, my bed's still not made....sigh....when inspiration strikes ne? Write and tell me what  
you thought of it!  
  
p.s. Definitly see "The Thirteenth Floor" the movie I ripped off for this little fic.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
A week later 3000 AD.  
  
"Take off your shoes!" Serena commanded as she and Darien waded through the tall grass before  
the beach.  
  
"Why?" He questioned.  
  
"Because, now you get to feel what sand *really* feels like!" She giggled.  
  
He smiled and shook his head, indulging her, he slipped off his sandals and let her lead him  
to the beach. He stopped short.  
  
The sand was...scratchy and not all white....and the sea made no sigh....more of a....splash?  
She watched him carefully and then pulled him giggling into a run.  
  
"Come on!"  
  
She hurried ahead of him and he made chase, enjoying her squeal half fearfully, half delightfully  
when he caught her. He pulled her into his arms and she sighed softly...her skin against  
his cheek....that was the sea and the sand he knew....  
  
She leaned up and kissed him, lips soft....much softer he reflected now, then in the sensorium.  
"Mmmmm..." He murmured like always....eyes drifting slowly closed...  
  
Her heart warmed at the sound. Finally she pulled away and took his hand, leading him towards  
the rugged little house tucked away in the trees. Grandfather was at the door waiting.  
  
Serena rushed up to meet him, "Grandfather!" She cried, throwing her arms about his neck.  
  
"My girl!" He replied warmly. Then he walked down to meet Darien, standing awkwardly  
at the bottom.   
  
He started. Serena's Grandfather looked just like Grandfather Chiba!  
  
Grandfather smiled, "Let me look at you. Let me look at you! My my my! I suppose I look  
very familiar to you?"  
  
Darien nodded.  
  
"I went in a lot. You and I have talked a great deal already." Grandfather replied with   
twinkling eyes.  
  
Darien's eyes widened and then he smiled, already figuring out when and where. The boat that  
day, when he'd wanted to meet Serena for one. The amusement in his voice when he'd asked,  
"You're taken with her already aren't you?"  
  
Grandfather put an arm about his shoulder and led him up, capturing Serena with the other.  
"Come along you two, we'd best be getting along. We're about to get kissed up to in the best  
possible way!"  
  
Serena laughed with him.  
  
The Authorities had made a formal apology and granted them a lot of damages for nearly killing  
her soulmate. It was a very serious offense. One that horrified every inhabitant of the earth.  
  
Grandfather was restored all his computer equipment---once they tracked him down at his hidden  
chateau on the beach that is---and given more freedom to expand his studies. Serena was   
granted the same along with the promise of fulfilling one request of her choosing, whatever  
it may be. Telepathy was still forbidden though she could have asked permission to use it, but  
she didn't. Instead she had requested the one thing she'd longed for all her life besides  
her soulmate.  
  
And they were going today.  
  
She asked to meet her parents, to visit them on the Moon.  
  
Travel to the Moon was rare, a sizable crowd had gathered to watch she, Darien and her   
Grandfather go. They stepped onto the wide, circular disk and waited. Though Earth   
technology did not allow for space travel, the Moon had the power to teleport anyone back   
and forth.  
  
And so in a flash of silver light, all three disappeared. When they reappeared, the Moon   
Kingdom lay before them, silvery, beautiful and haunting. Everything sparkled white and pure.  
Serena's parents stood waiting with shining eyes.   
  
She stepped towards them uncertainly. She eyed her mother a long moment. A tall, ivory woman  
with long, silvery hair and blue eyes....but her face....she looked so familiar...suddenly  
Serena let out a shriek, "Aunt Ilene?!"  
  
Serena's mother nodded and smiled, holding out her arms. And her father. She turned and  
caught her breath....he was Kenji....with darker hair, taller...no glasses.  
  
"You were Kenji?"   
  
He nodded too, tears spilling from his eyes.  
  
Grandfather smiled, "I had to change their appearances to avoid trouble, but I based them after  
your parents and they snuck into the system while you were in to meet you."  
  
Darien watched in awe. He remembered Serena spending time with Kenji....the way Aunt Ilene had  
been while she was there....it all made sense now....they'd all been there....  
  
He'd met his own birth parents some days before at the hospital. It was startling, meeting these  
flesh and blood beings that had birthed his body...though his soul still lay latent in Serena.  
  
It was her lunar physignometry they had concluded. It was strong and rather magical, using the  
power of the tides and time on earth....the magnetic nature of it had simply pulled his soul to  
her at birth, completing herself without realizing....  
  
Serena turned and ushered him over, into her arms, more joyful then he'd imagined possible at   
their first meeting....so hedged with sorrow.  
  
He held her close and leaning down, whispered in her ear, "Hey...let's get married while we're  
here...what do you say?"  
  
She smiled, wide eyed at him, "I-I...it would be a dream!" She sighed, but he shook his head.  
  
"No, no more dreams love. It will be nothing but wide awake and real."  
  
She slipped her arms about his back then and tucked her head under his chin, breathing softly  
with that sigh that left him convinced he held the sea in his very arms. And here, on this  
planet where all the most magic parts of her were most alive, he was convinced it was true.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*  
*  
*  
Allll done minna! Tell me what you thought?   
Was my first real alternate reality a success?   
A failure? *sniff* I hope not! waaaahhh! E-mail e-mail e-mail! 


End file.
